I've mentioned before that I have a rule of thumb when watching or reading anything to not watch anything made after 2014 without a trusted recommendation. I'm wondering if anyone has a similar kind of cutoff when reading about history? If so what is yours?
With the whole diversity obsession in entertainment it has thoroughly ruined period pieces and what is even more annoying is that the media shills will find some historian to claim that Victorian England was always very racially diverse, Vikings were multicultural, or we get the moronic stuff like League of Their Own/that GREASE prequel with lgbt stuff all over along with interracial relationships.
Funny thing is that I've never heard the argument about Victorian England or the Vikings until these shows started pushing this nonsense. It's as if they have some quack historian on retainer or they say something like "well the British Empire included parts of Africa so it makes sense for them to be in a show about upper crust Brits in the 1800s".
I had to stop reading modern science magazines a while back because I foolishly thought they surely wouldn't go along with the nonsense about transgenderism. I also looked up some information on the African slave trade and the essay grudgingly admitted that slavery existed in Africa but not as bad as American slavery. In America you had slaves that were treated very poorly and very well so I would assume that would be true across the world when slavery was commonplace.
So, sorry for the essay, but any rule of thumb y'all could recommend?
Good point. One study I'd like to do is to compare western colonization as it was versus how they talk about it today. I feel it would be night and day.
You'd see a lot more about the natives' traditions of human sacrifice, murdering and raping rival tribes that they would constantly declare war against to secure the few resources worth salvaging because they sucked at agriculture, condemning all the survivors to slavery, and dying at a very young age to minor diseases, at least. It might give you a more favourable impression of all the progress that was brought to the backward, primitive cultures that existed in the West before the Europeans arrived.
You might find these books interesting:
https://www.amazon.com/War-Before-Civilization-Peaceful-Savage/dp/0195119126
https://www.amazon.com/Sick-Societies-Challenging-Primitive-Harmony/dp/0029089255
That first one has been in my 'too buy and read' list for far too long.
Hopefully I won't go drunk-browsing this weekend and end up ordering any books.
Again.
I don't do drunk browsing - but I do somehow end up with a lot of books sitting in my to read pile. At the moment I'm reading about Khemitology , The Land of Osiris - which is the Oral Egyptian Tradition that is nothing like what Egyptologists would have you believe. For Starters The Giza Pyramid was never a Kings Tomb.
I was born in Oklahoma and they were surprisingly candid about Native American history. Well compared to how I imagine it is taught now. There would also be tribal representatives that would come talk to us. What you said though makes me wish for some reality show where all the “America is evil” college students have to last a month living with a Gods Must Be Crazy style African tribe or live like Native Americans circa 1300
I just learned some local colonial history from my area. It was a story about how a shipwreck of British Colonists was rescued by a local Aboriginal Tribe. The tribe then helped them walk a few 100 km's to civilization - but just before they got back, the aborigines killed every single colonist including children. When the local elder was asked about the Oral Tradition he said the tribe killed them because they didn't offer any thing as thanks for the rescue trip. Remembering they had nothing because of the shipwreck.
I’m surprised that story hasn’t been changed.
In Australia we now have to pretend the Abos are pure innocents savages that we corrupted. Ignoring of course their 50% post-natal Abortion rate (that's right they waited until the baby was born before killing and EATING IT). The abo tribes were constantly at war with each other and couldn't even invent the wheel. Then we had some lefty write a bullshit book that was later debunked saying that Abos had an advanced society before we got here and ruined. Pure fairy tale garbage.
My very first friend ever as a kid was an abo boy. But he was adopted into a white family - so he was ok mostly. A bit rough around the edges
Lost contact with him after a few years since that time but I do remember his parents split and he moved with his mum to Alice Springs and spent most of the time there with her
I do hope he hasn't been corrupted by the abos there but most likely he has. Was my very first friend after all
I took a young aboriginal boy under my wing for a year as a mentor - but the situation became untenable because of his family.
Not surprised. You’d think they could at least stop acting like native groups were as pure as the driven snow
Everyone's appalled when a historical source calls a native a "savage" until the source material mentions one of them eating a baby.
Mayans: Not Even Once.